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jewels1032
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Name: Julie
Country: United States
State: Michigan
Metro: Grand Rapids
Birthday: 10/27/1981
Gender: Female
Interests: God, Antioch, music, writing, and Calvin and Hobbes (ok, so that last one's more of an obsession...)
Expertise: I do everything with a great amount of skill and dexterity
Occupation: Student
Message: message me
AIM:  jewelstfeutz
Member Since:
4/12/2005
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| Ok, reading yet another book. This is one of Josh's, and so far, I've been blown away. It's called The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck. It's not about truth, exactly, but it touches on it (the cover advertises that it's a "new psychology of love, traditional values and spiritual growth"). In this excerpt, Peck writes about dedication to the truth:
Truth is reality. That which is false is unreal. The more clearly we see the reality of the world, the better equipped we are to deal with the world. The less clearly we see the reality of the world -- the more our minds are befuddled by falsehood, misperceptions and illusions -- the less able we will be to determine correct courses of action and make wise decisions. Our view of reality is like a map with which to negotiate the terrain of life. If the map is true and accurate, we will generally know where we are, and if we have decided where we want to go, we generally know how to get there. If this map is false and inaccurate, we generally will be lost.
Peck may not be writing specifically about spiritual Truth, but doesn't it ring true the same? Truth is our reality. Jesus is our reality. The more clearly we see Him, the better equipped we are to deal with this world. And the less clearly we see Christ, the more our minds are befuddled by falsehood, misperceptions, and illusions. As to the reality of the world, our reality as Christians is that our lives here are under attack. If we don't recognize this and try to follow what the world tells us, we become confused and incredibly unhappy. Christ is needed to guide us, to help us determine the correct courses of action. If we have a true understanding of Christ, we will know how to negotiate the terrain of this life. We will generally know where we are, we are seeking His will for where we are to go, and we know to get there we need only follow Him. But for most of us, this map cannot remain unchanged. As we grow and learn and deepen our understanding of Christ and His Truth, our previous map becomes inaccurate (though not false -- a smaller degree of Truth is still truth, but it is incomplete and inaccurate). If we continue to follow this map, we generally become lost. I cannot begin to count all the points in my life where this has happened to me. I discover a deeper Truth, and I become rather smug in this knowledge. I can do anything now, I think, I now know how to solve all the problems I've struggled with in the past, I know how to live my life, etc. WRONG. God knows how I need to live my life, and the second I decide I know, I've stopped listening to Him. I've decided the map I have is just fine, and it doesn't need any more revisions. This is usually the point where I get stuck: I'm lost, making wrong turns, even going in the wrong direction. To quote a great song, "I struggle with forward motion, we all struggle with forward motion. 'Cause forward motion is harder than it sounds. Every time I get some ground I have to turn myself around again." This struggle is not bad; it's a part of life. Our problem lies in us not wanting to struggle, not wanting to have to change, and so we do not. Again, Peck writes:
While this is obvious, it is something that most people to a greater or lesser degree choose to ignore. They ignore it because our route to reality is not easy....Making a map requires effort. The more effort we make to appreciate and perceive reality, the larger and more accurate our maps will be. But many do not want to make this effort. Some stop making it by the end of adolescence. Their maps are small and sketchy, their views of the world narrow and misleading. By the end of middle age most people have given up the effort. They feel certain that their maps are complete, and they are no longer interested in new information.... Only a relative and fortunate few continue until the moment of death exploring the mystery of reality, ever enlarging and refining and redefining their understanding of the world and what is true.
My prayer for all of you today is that you be one of the relative and fortunate few who continues to search, who continues to seek, and that you will come to know the fullness of God's Truth. I also want to end with a few words of encouragement. It may seem impossibly hard to go through life having to refine and change your understanding of God, but He reminds us that we will recognize Him through this search.
Paul doesn't scold the pagans because they ought
to know about God but don't, but because they do know about God and pretend to
themselves that they don't. He says everyone really knows about the
Creator; we just torture ourselves (or comfort ourselves) with the idea that we
don't. Jesus says plainly that His sheep know His
voice, and follow Him. In other words, none of His sheep hear His voice and yet
fail to recognize it. And for those sheep in other folds (aka. other religions), Jesus also said, "And I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice."
Peace, my friends
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| He got me flowers. Not cut flowers, but a pot of them so I can enjoy them longer. And he specifically found some that hardly have any scent so I can enjoy them just as much as anyone else. Sigh. I like this boy 
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| If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties. - Francis Bacon
So if you haven't guessed, I'm on a truth kick. Or maybe I should say, a Truth kick. The plans are to start writing a book, possibly to be publish, but at the very least, for me to grow in my own understanding of Truth and to come to some sort of peace about what I believe. I've had a lot of doubts lately. My own understanding of God is not always what I have been taught, and I need to discover for myself whether I should follow my head, my heart, or the Church. Much of the time, these three are inseperable, but not always. And God is too important to me to let these questions go unasked. Some of my biggest questions are about the vast number of religions, Christian and non. Do they all contain Truth, or at least on some level? And by the same tolken, do they all preach some degree of truth that isn't in line with God's Truth? Is there a church I can put my complete faith in? What church is that? Is it truly the Catholic Church? If I decide I cannot believe all that the Church teaches, is that okay with God? These questions do not bother me, because I see them as an opportunity to become even more in communion with God, and I do not expect to fnd all the answers, but I would like to know I am going down the right path.
Here are some exerpts from a book, The Ripple Effect by Betty J. Eadie, and I'm just blown away by how much her words ring true to me:
"Religion is a personal
matter. One's religion, one's faith and beliefs may be influenced by, or even
dictated by, a church or other individuals. But deep down in a person's heart
of hearts, he cannot be dictated to. Each individual spirit claims the freedom
to believe for himself. If we were to analyze each person's deepest
beliefs—including assumptions, guesses and hopes—we would never find two people
who believe exactly the same thing, even within the same religion. In all the
affairs of humankind, matters of faith are intensely subjective and are colored
by individual interpretation and desire. Therefore it is safe to say that no
two of us believe in exactly the same religion.
God understands this. He is perfectly aware of
our diversity of belief. After all, he is the one who drew the veil over our
knowledge of him and of the pre-mortal world. By this he ensured mortality as
the perfect place for each of us to discover our own natural level of light,
knowledge, and spirituality and then to progress beyond that level if we so
choose. Without his powerful presence to sway us, we exercise agency to either
follow his Spirit or forsake it, to heed the enticing of our own spirit or to
ignore it, to seek greater light or to cleave to shadows. Nobody is forced to
become faithful or to believe in God.
Each of us makes natural decisions about who
and what we are and who and what we will place our faith in. Along the way, we
seek out others of similar dispositions, and churches spring up in response.
They serve our collective beliefs and needs for fellowship and worship.
Throughout history and all across the globe, people of like-minded faith have
congregated to unitedly offer thanks and praise to God. They study and share
truths as they understand them and rejoice in the portion of the Spirit they
receive.
Each religion on earth exists at
its own level of truth. Religions mingle truth with man's beliefs. But each
religion is important because it unites and nurtures people at a distinct level
of spiritual growth. As people explore truths at one level, a desire awakens in
them for the next level. And that level—whatever it may be—is the next step in
that person's individual growth. I understood that everything which awakens us
to truth is good. And that even the simplest of truths are better than no truth
at all. I was told that all truth eventually leads to Christ."
Stay tuned... there's more to come...
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| Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it. - Andre Gide
So lately I've been thinking God in terms of spirituality, not necessarily in terms of religion. Now don't get me wrong, I profess my Catholicism proudly, but I am saddened by all the Catholics (or members of any other religion, for that matter) I know who are so adamantly Catholic that they refuse to see God's goodness and His Truth anywhere but in the Church. As for me, I know the moment I stop questioning, the moment I stop seeking a deeper level of Truth, I am spiritually dead. And if I am spiritually dead, I might as well be all dead. God is bigger than the Catholic Church. Now before you all take offense to that, hear me out. The Church, while established by Christ, is run by man. It's imperfect. As Archbishop Fulton Sheen wrote, "As the Physical Body of Christ had external wounds, bruises, and scars, and yet the inner structure was left untouched, so there seemed to be a foretelling that though His Mystical Body, the Church, would have its moral wounds and scars of scandals and disloyalties, nevertheless, not a bone of its body would ever be broken." That said, I believe the Church comes close, ever so close, to knowing God's Truth. But I do not think it has revealed the fullness of it. I don't think any religion can. Why is that? I do not believe we have the capabilities of comprehending so great a thing. Let me make an analogy. In a diversity class I took at Grand Valley, we learned how and why stereotypes are first formed. Our body takes in an enormous amount of information at any given time. So much, in fact, that if we were to be aware of it all, we could not function. It would be overloaded. So our brain breaks things down, categorizes them, makes things simpler. This person gets grouped with that person over here because they look alike, sound alike. Our brain has noticed a pattern. In this same sense, God is too big for our brains to comprehend. Each church on earth is a shadow of the Truth, most overlapping, and some closer to the fullness of Truth. But nothing we do here on earth will ever exemplify His entire Truth. No church will ever show us the fullness of God. Only God can do that. And through any person, any church that He desires to work through. | | |
| Testing, testing, is this thing still on? And the real question, is there anyone still reading? Life has been, well, life. Some days I'm so joyful, other days, world weary. I'm confused, uncertain, timid, wildy estatic. Some days I feel so alive! I step outside into the brisk air, look up at the sky, and just breathe! Wow! It's so amazing to be a part of this beautiful world! But then there are days when I want nothing more than to crawl back under the safty of my covers, close my eyes, and pretend I'm happy. But I'm learning to rejoice in the highs and the lows. The highs are so much better when I know what it is to be truly unhappy. True, these joyful days may be tinged with the bittersweet, but it is sweet nonetheless. | | |
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